About This Series

"I have high hopes of smashing my name into history so
violently that it will take a legendary form.... That goal is the real
goal as far as I am concerned."

-- L. Ron Hubbard, writing to the first of his three wives in
1938, more than a decade before he created Scientology.

(Sunday, 24 June 1990, page A36:3)

The Times today begins a six-part series on the Church of
Scientology, the controversial religion founded by the late author
L. Ron Hubbard.

Since its creation nearly four decades ago, Scientology has grown
into a worldwide movement that, in recent months, has spent millions
of dollars promoting its founder and his self-help book, "Dianetics:
The Modern Science of Mental Health."

In the past five years alone, more than 20 of Hubbard's fiction and
nonfiction books have become national bestsellers -- most of them
achieving that status after his death in January, 1986.

Scientology executives estimate the church's membership to be more
than 6.5 million, although some former members believe the actual
number is smaller.

Scientology's largest stronghold is in Hollywood, the
organization's management nerve center. The church is also a major
presence in Clearwater, Fla., where Scientologists from around the
world go for training.

No other contemporary religion has endured a more turbulent past or
a more sustained assault on its existence than the Church of
Scientology. It has weathered crises that would have crippled, if not
destroyed, other fledgling religious movements -- testimony to the
group's determination to survive.

Eleven of its top leaders -- including Hubbard's wife -- were
jailed for burglarizing the U.S. Justice Department and other federal
agencies in the 1970s. Within the church, there have been widespread
purges and defections. Some former members have filed lawsuits
accusing the church of intimidating its critics, breaking up families
and using high-pressure sales techniques to separate large sums of
money from its followers.

In 1986, Scientology paid an estimated $5 million to settle more
than 20 of the suits, without admitting wrongdoing. In exchange, the
plaintiffs agreed never again to criticize Scientology or Hubbard and
to have their lawsuits forever sealed from public view.

Through all this, the church has persevered, dismissing its critics
in government, psychiatry and the media as "criminals" and
"anti-religion" demagogues who have conspired to persecute
Scientology.

Today, the Scientology movement is writing a new chapter in its
history, one that has attracted a new generation of supporters and
detractors. Through official church programs and a network of groups
run by Scientology followers, the movement is reaching into American
society as never before to gain legitimacy and new members.

The apparent intent is to position Hubbard as a sort of
20th-Century Renaissance man, lending new credibility to his
Scientology teachings.

Among other things, church members are disseminating his writings
in schools across the U.S., assisted by groups that seldom publicize
their Scientology connections.

Scientology followers also have established a number of successful
consulting firms that sell Hubbard's management techniques to health
care professionals and businessmen. In the process, many are steered
into the church.

And Scientologists are the driving force behind two organizations
active in the scientific community. The organizations have been busy
trying to sell government agencies and the public on a chemical
detoxification treatment developed by Hubbard.

There is little question that, although Hubbard is gone,
Scientology is here to stay -- and doing its best to meet his
expectations. "The world is ours," he once told his adherents. "Own
it."